In choppy trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday ended with a marginal fall of about four points as heavyweight Reliance Industries tumbled 3.73 per cent because the company's quarterly results were worse than what the markets expected.
The Sensex, which gained nearly 14 per cent in the last two weeks, attracted profit selling and closed lower by 3.92 points at 15,375.04, after moving between 15,463.09 and 15,228.46.
However, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 3.75 points at 4,572.30. It touched the day's high of 4,596.75 and a low of 4,528.50 points.
The markets remained volatile throughout the session as Reliance Industries lost 3.73 per cent after it turned out to be an exception in the general story of good corporate results for the April-June quarter.
Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 14 closed with losses while 16 gained. Overseas funds bought stocks of a net $146.6 million on July 23, taking total investments in equities this year to $6.57 billion.
Short-coverings as well as rolling over of positions to the next series ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts on coming Thursday also helped the recovery.
The oil & gas index was down 3.09 per cent at 9,298.83. The auto sector index was the second-worst performer, losing 0.51 per cent to 5,517.28, followed by the banking index by 0.07 per cent to 8,329.33.
The falling market was checked from any major fall as stocks in FMCG, realty, power, metal, consumer durables, teck, capital goods, IT and healthcare rose on investment buying.
